The Reverend Al Sharpton was in Savannah Thursday night - helping raise money for the family of a man shot and killed by police.

He spoke at a fundraiser for 22-year-old David Willis’ three children, one of them unborn.

Willis was fatally shot by officer Kevin Mckoon nearly two weeks ago.

Police say Willis was pulled over for a traffic stop, when he tried to run the officer over.

The Second St. John Missionary Baptist Church  was filled to capacity, an hour before Reverend Al Sharpton arrived.

Organizers say it wasn’t a rally to say who’s wrong or right, but a way to reach out to Willis’ family and heal.

The attached link  is a portion of Reverend Sharpton’s speech. 

http://www.wsav.com/midatlantic/sav/news.apx.-content-articles-SAV-2007-08-31-0025.html

attempted murder charges leveled against six black teens show “one rule for white kids and one for black kids.”
Sharpton and an entourage of three dozen religious and civil rights leaders met and prayed privately with one of the teens, 17-year-old Mychal Bell, for about 15 minutes at the LaSalle Parish courthouse.

Bell faces up to 22 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery. He had initially faced attempted murder charges. Four 18-year-olds and a juvenile—who round out the group dubbed the Jena Six—are awaiting trial on attempted murder and conspiracy charges.

“I did not come to Jena to start trouble,” Sharpton said while preaching at a local church service after the meeting. “I came to Jena to stop trouble.”

Bell and five other teens were charged in the December 2006 beating of a white schoolmate, 18-year-old Justin Barker. Barker was treated for a swollen and cut face and released the same day, but said he took pain medication for a week.

Black community leaders across the country were outraged, protesting that the attempted murder charges were too harsh.

In comments directed at District Attorney Reed Walters, who is prosecuting the Jena Six, Sharpton said, “You can’t sit in the courthouse and have one rule for white

kids and one for black kids.”
Walters did not return a call for comment left on an answering machine at his residential number. No one answered Sunday at his office.

Jena, a town of 3,000, is mostly white with about 350 black residents. Residents said racial tensions have escalated because of events at Jena High School.

Last year, the morning after a black student sat under a tree on campus where white students traditionally congregated, three nooses—unmistakable lynching symbols in the old South—were hung in the tree.

Students accused of placing them were suspended from the school for a short period, and tensions increased.

Then on Dec. 4, six black students were accused of jumping Barker and beating and kicking him. A motive for the attack was never established.

“You cannot have two levels of justice,” Sharpton said Sunday. “Some boys assault people and are charged with nothing. Some boys hang nooses and finish the school year. And some boys are charged with attempted murder.”

In an article published by the New York Daily News, Rev. Al Sharpton offers his “five musts” for Don Imus’ return to the airwaves. “Indeed, if Imus wants to get back in front of the microphone, there are five steps that he should take to prove that he has learned from the experience — and not simply waited for the furor to die down,” said Sharpton.

First, Sharpton says, Imus must come to terms with the women “he denigrated” in a concrete way. “One of the Rutgers women has filed a lawsuit, and rather than play legal games with her, he should settle that suit — and any other claims that the team members may make due to the psychological and public damage he did to them personally,” Sharpton wrote.

Second, Imus should publicly state (if true) that he now understands what led to his termination: “Americans of all races and economic levels believe we can no longer move forward as a society by taking cheap shots at women and blacks or any other group,” he says.

Third, Sharpton wants Imus to pledge he will refrain from attacks on “innocent people,” and that his new employer should publicly release a contract clause making clear that he will not be permitted to engage in any racist, sexist or homophobic comments.

Fourth, to show that he is truly committed to turning the page, Sharpton wants Imus to set aside some regular weekly broadcast time to sit with an “ombudsman,” someone else of color, who will mix it up with him and critique issues of the day.

Finally, Sharpton wants Imus to encourage all corporations, including the record industry, to stop subsidizing and promoting people who engage in racist and misogynist language. “The rules must not be different for black rappers than they are for white broadcasters,” Sharpton concluded. (08-20-07)

Jena six- Racism in Louisiana - PART ONE

Jena six- Racism in Louisiana - PART TWO

The Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III walked into a jury room Tuesday afternoon at a Jena, La., courthouse, and the face of the teenager seated at the table “just lit up,” said Marcus Jones, the father of that teen, Mychal Bell.

Bell is the first of the Jena Six to be convicted for a Dec. 4, 2006 fight, in which black students were accused of beating a white student following weeks of racially charged incidents in the small Louisiana town.

Problems were touched off after nooses were hung in a tree after black students sat in an area that was a traditional gathering place for white students, around the start of the school year.

The white students who hung the nooses were suspended for three days. The black students who retaliated were expelled and charged with felonies.

“Sharpton told my son, ‘I told you I’d be back,’” Jones told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Martin Luther King III told him he would stay involved in the situation until he is freed.”

Jesse Jackson is scheduled to visit Jena on Sept. 4, according to published reports.